This invention relates to non-gelling, freeze-thaw stable starches for use in foods. More particularly, this invention involves selected, hydrolyzed waxy starches which provide good mouthfeel properties and are non-gelling, even at low temperatures, making them especially useful in food products.
In recent years, food manufacturers have worked to develop technology for reducing the lipid and caloric content of processed foods. The genesis of this technology is the growing consumer awareness of the nutritional value and caloric content of foods, and heightened consumer desire to reduce overall fat content of the diet, as well as to reduce or maintain body weight by selection of low-fat or low-calorie foods.
Because starch has a caloric content of only 4 Kcal/g and lipid has a caloric content of 9 Kcal/g, research efforts have been directed towards the use of starch as a lipid mimetic or fat replacer in foods. In order to meet the critical needs of the food industry and especially the various functional and property requirements that must be satisfied, native starches are often modified by numerous known techniques to change the behavioral characteristics yet still essentially retain the caloric value of the native (unmodified) starch.
Chemical treatment by crosslinking (inhibition) or by the introduction of substituent groups are the most common forms of modification used to stabilize and provide starch with the desired functional characteristics. Various chemical treatments and modifications of starch are disclosed in the following noted U.S. patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,709 issued Jan. 1, 1991 to Furcsik et al., discloses low or reduced fat foods that are prepared with hydroxypropyl ether derivatives of high amylose starch (at least 40% amylose) which are not crosslinked and have a degree of substitution of at least 0.04.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,252 issued Dec. 11, 1990 to C. Chiu involves a modified starch emulsifier useful in foods and other products comprising an enzyme degraded starch containing a hydrophobic group or both hydrophilic and hydrophobic substituent groups.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,086 issued Dec. 31, 1985 to Smolka et al., discloses a crosslinked, etherified common (non-waxy) starch particularly suited for use in a salad dressing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,910 issued Feb. 20, 1968 to Ganz et al. discloses non-crosslinked, hydroxypropyl starch ether derivatives that are used to provide stable thickening effects in foods that are subjected to freeze/thaw cycles and other types of temperature cycling (e.g., cooking).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,612 issued May 5, 1992 to Quades et al. discloses specific hydrolyzate products of hydroxypropyl starch which have utility in replacing sucrose in low calorie food products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,166 Issued Apr. 9, 1985 to Lenchin et al., involves the use of converted starches having a DE (dextrose equivalent) of less than 5 and a certain specified hot flow viscosity, as fat and oil replacements in gel forming foodstuffs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,408 issued Aug. 20, 1985 to Morehouse et al., discloses a low fat, butter-like spread prepared with a non-gelling starch hydrolyzate having a DE of from 4 to 25.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,962,465 issued Jun. 8, 1976 and 3, 986,890 issued Oct. 19, 1976 to Richter et al., disclose processes for preparing starch hydrolyzates by enzyme treatment. The low DE starch hydrolyzates are useful as additives in gel forming food products.
U.S. application Ser. No. 08/333,111 filed Nov. 1, 1994 discloses non-gelling starch derivatives such as hydroxypropyl starch ethers which are useful as fat replacers in reduced fat foods such as salad dressings, margarine and butter substitutes, low-fat spreads, puddings, sauces and gravies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,972 issued Jan. 31, 1984 to Wurzburg et al., is directed to thickener starches useful in foodstuffs which comprise a hybrid waxy starch from a plant of wxsu2 genotype. These thickener starches provide good low temperature stability and have improved functional properties when modified by derivatization to form ethers or esters, or by crosslinking.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,672 issued Aug. 25, 1970 to Wurzburg et al. discloses the treatment of an inhibited or crosslinked starch with an enzyme such as beta-amylase to impart freeze-thaw stability.
Despite the various starch products and particularly the modified starches that have been developed for use in low or reduced fat foods, the food manufacturers still seek starch products having suitable oily and fatty mouthfeel and which do not gel at low temperature, especially those which are unmodified.